I tell about my blog to anyone willing to listen

David at Forking Mad asked:

Question for the audience: Do you tell people you blog?

He talks about his adversity towards sharing their blog with offline friends.

I was reflecting on this recently, after I inadvertently mentioned to a colleague that I had blogged about a topic a few days earlier. That, of course, started the questioning from them: Oh, what's it called? What do you write about? Can I see it?

I reluctantly recited the web address. I have no idea if they did/will look. But then I wondered: Why was I so restrained to promote my blog to a real-life-person-type.

I’m completely the opposite. I tell everybody about my blog if they are willing to listen. And the fun part is that people tell me they read my blog. Latest this Tuesday I told my colleagues about my blog when we had a discussion about blogs.

It’s happened more than a few times that someone comes to talk to me in a pub or bar and tells me they enjoy reading my blog. I love it!

Two years ago, bacardi55 whose blog has since disappeared from the web pondered the same question:

But then I asked myself, who, In Real Life, knows that I’m blogging (or gemlogging)? Not counting people I met online first that knew “bacardi55 before firstname”, but only the opposite… Well, I think only one of my best friend (and now my partner, but my friend knew before) knows. The main reason he was aware is because I once shared with him a gemlog article I wrote… Not sure which one but not a technical one.

Both of them write their blog under a pseudonym and I wonder how much of a difference does that make since I write under my legal name. Thus, there’s no secret that this blog is my blog.

Alex shares David’s reluctance:

For me, the reluctance is similar to David's. This blog is my space to write what's on my mind in my own little vacuum. It's disconnected from the expectations of real life, and a more real reflection of myself versus the "masks" I wear IRL. It's a playground, a place to rant and a place to nerd out.

For me, a blog is not in any way disconnected from my daily life — quite the opposite. I often blog about the things that happen in real life and about things I learn at work or hobbies and those same topics come up all the time later so I share my posts to people when they are relevant.

I do something similar though as Kev

When people ask me about my hobbies, I tend to say "I enjoy writing" rather than "I have a blog." And I think that's because of the negative connotations blogging has with the general public.

For me, writing is definitely the hobby and interest of mine and blog is just one of the formats and mediums I use to write. I also journal, write notes, write a zine and occasionally dabble in fiction writing.

Kai chimed in with a similar story to the others:

Who knows that I blog? Of the people I know and interact with regularly in person I can think of exactly two people that know I have a blog—my missus and one of my closest friends who I share a lot of interests in common with.

Reading through all these stories, I wonder how my social circles are so different from others. Many mention that their friends don’t share the same interests as them and I’m pretty much exactly the opposite once again. Most of my friends are people who do share my interests and that’s how we’ve become friends in the first place.

Gordon wrote about how blogging is something people might not quite understand:

If asked very comfortable telling people I have a blog but it wasn’t always like that. There was a definite secret guilt about blogging, largely because it wasn’t really fully understood unless you were a blogger too. Like, “why do people spend all that money on cycling, I don’t get it”, says the person who then went on to try a better bike and fall involve with the child-like joy of cycling —that person is me, BTW.

These days my readership has grown to a size where it’s not feasible to know everyone but for many years in the early days, I think at least 90% of the people who read my blog — like my mom — were people who I knew in real life.

The same goes for the blogs I read as well. I love reading my friends’ blogs and out of all the blogs I regularly follow, I know a good amount of the people behind them offline as well.